1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for producing a membrane which, following mechanical injury in the sense of a puncture or a bullet hole or penetration wound with a small-caliber weapon, is capable of closing this injury without external intervention.
2. History of the Related Art
The present invention is concerned with pneumatic structures such as have been known, for example, from the European Patent Specifications EP 1 239 756, EP 1 210 489, the European Patent Applications EP 03 700 039 and EP 03 764 875 and the international publication WO 2005/007991.
EP 1 239 756 discloses a pneumatic mattress or bench seat which requires no horizontal support as underlay. It can quickly be made ready for use and can be stowed away again with little space requirement. The arrangement of the supporting chambers can be configured in such a manner that the mattress itself is configured in the manner of a supporting structure.
EP 1 210 489 discloses a pneumatic structural element in the manner of an inflatable tubular hollow body which can absorb without buckling tensile and thrust forces which may arise. The structural elements can easily be joined together to form more complex components such as roofs or bridges, which may be erected very rapidly.
EP 1 554 158 (EP 1 210 489) discloses an adaptive pneumatic seat and backrest for vehicles and airplanes which, despite the given basic structure of the air chambers, offers high seat comfort corresponding to conventional foam cushions and brings a discernible saving in weight compared with these.
WO 2004/009400 (EP 03 764 875) discloses an adaptive pneumatic seat and backrests for vehicles and airplanes which, despite the given basic structure of the air chambers, offers high seat comfort corresponding to conventional foam cushions and brings a discernible saving in weight compared with these and in addition, can be simply designed onto existing seat shell structures.
WO 2005/007991 discloses a pneumatic support. The structural element can easily be joined together to form more complex components such as roofs or bridges which may be erected very rapidly. In addition, the structural element can easily be joined to conventional existing building constructions.
Among other things, such pneumatic structures have in common that they weigh comparatively little, i.e. they are easily transportable since their membrane takes up little space in the deflated state and can be stored and transported in a space-saving manner.
These pneumatic structures comprise on the one hand large-area structures having areas of several hundred to several thousand square meters with small excess pressures of the order of magnitude of 10 to 500 mbar, on the other hand small-volume and small-area structures having excess pressures of 50-200 mbar, as in the case of pneumatic seats for example.
In all these cases the escape of compressed gas, usually air, should be avoided in order to maintain said internal operating pressure at least at the necessary minimum.